Keeping Up Appearances
by alayneni
Summary: Laurel Lance was on the fast track to becoming the first female District Attorney in Starling City. She had a great career, a great boyfriend and a seemingly perfect life. Women envied her and girls wanted to be her yet she was ready to give it all up.


Keeping up Appearances

An: I do not own Arrow

Summary: Laurel Lance was on the fast track to becoming the first female District Attorney in Starling City. She had a great career, a great boyfriend and a seemingly perfect life. Women envied her and girls wanted to be her yet she was ready to give it all up.

Laurel stood next to her perfect boyfriend, Oliver Queen, CEO of Queen Consolidated, at a cocktail party for something she couldn't remember anymore. All she knew was that she didn't want to be there. She wanted to be at the Korean place with Ted Grant, her real boyfriend, around the corner from his gym. In public, Laurel and Oliver were the perfect couple. They were Starling City's power couple and it was one of the reasons that she was able to move up the ranks of the public defender's office so quickly. Everyone thought she had everything but the reality was far different.

She and Oliver were actually in relationships with other people. He was dating an IT girl in his company, Felicity Smoak and she was dating the owner of a gym in the Glades. Their public relationship had started out of necessity. They were known for their on and off again relationship during high school into their college years. Eventually they decided to settle on being friends but life wasn't going as great. Neither were really interested in each other but the benefit to their public images when they were in a relationship with each other was undeniable. An Oliver Queen who had a steady girlfriend, had more respect in the business world than the wild playboy. The arrangement had been working well until she met Ted Grant.

A case came before her to prosecute a guy that had tried to attack Ted Grant because he had taught the man's wife how to defend herself. The woman was abused by her husband and Ted gave her the tools and confidence to stand up for herself and get herself out of that terrible situation. Laurel admired what he had done and she visited his gym one day to talk to him. They had spent hours talking and ended up at the Korean place. Laurel admired that he was so passionate about helping persons in the Glades and she could see that a lot of the activities and classes he hosted were actually having a real impact on the society. Laurel saw a lot of repeat offenders, most of them young boys and she pitched an idea to Ted to try and mentor a few of the first time offenders so that the not repeat offences occurred.

Soon they had a sort of a thing where Laurel knew they both liked each other but Ted was an honourable man and knew she had a boyfriend. She talked to Oliver about it and he accompanied her to the gym. He met Ted and liked him and soon they told him the truth about their relationship. Oliver offered to have a public breakup but Ted disapproved. He understood how much Laurel's career meant to her and Ted didn't want to be the reason she was suddenly cast aside. He didn't think Laurel would be able to handle that and then whatever it was that they had been building together would turn bitter because she would always know that Ted had caused it. Oliver publically befriended Ted so that he would be able to come to all of their hangout spots and spend time with her and the media wouldn't think anything of it when they saw him entering.

A few months after that, Oliver met Felicity and the hacker was all Oliver ever talked about. When Laurel was finally introduced to her, she couldn't help but like her as well. Laurel soon publically made friends with Felicity like Oliver had done with Ted. Laurel could see the writing on the wall and she asked Oliver for them to publically end their arrangement soon, whether or not she got the DA position. At the moment, she had three months left to know if she would get the promotion but she didn't think she could wait. She wanted to openly be with Ted and not to have to come up with an excuse for why she was visiting his gym and not spending time with Oliver. She didn't care what people would say about her boyfriend, she wanted happiness and Ted made her happy.

Oliver squeezed her hand and she knew that meant he was looking for a way out of their current conversation and she needed to provide it. She looked up at him and though he appeared to be paying attention to the conversation that was going on, he had positioned himself so that he had a clear view of Felicity and she was being harassed by a man twice her age. Laurel understood now, he wanted to go to her. Laurel easily made their excuses and she could barely keep up with Oliver's long quick strides to the other side of the room. Oliver easily dispatched the old man and then gave Felicity a dopy smile that she returned. Laurel was thankful no paparazzi were allowed inside or it would have been blatantly obvious how those two felt about each other. Everyone in their little circle knew that the bond those two shared was extremely strong, even the ever disapproving Moira Queen had come to accept it.

"I came up with an idea to get us all out of here," Felicity said in a whisper to them.

Laurel was definitely interested in the direction of this conversation and she leaned closer.

"I can hack into the fire alarm system and set off one of the alarms. Ted is waiting in the limo outside and we can go get some real food to eat."

"Ted is outside?" Laurel asked happily. She shouldn't be surprised that Felicity had arranged for Ted to meet up with them. Felicity was always thoughtful of others.

Felicity held Laurel's hand. "It's only three months, we can do it."

Laurel like the way Felicity always said we. It reinforced the fact that they were all in this together and that Laurel was never alone.

"So Big Belly Burger?" the blonde hacker asked hopefully.

Laurel snorted. Honestly where did Felicity put those burgers? She certainly had not increased a dress size since she had met her. The hacker pulled out her tablet and was in the process of implementing her plan when the head of the Billionaire Wives Club came up to them.

"Hello there Laurel," she said greeting her and glancing down at her left hand looking for a ring. The paparazzi had been on ring alert for the last six months since everyone expected Oliver to pop the question soon. They had been publically together for five years.

"Hi Martha," Laurel replied politely. She couldn't stand the woman. Every member of her club was a trophy wife with no career. Laurel refused to be that type of woman.

"Oliver we are anxiously waiting to get Laurel into our little club," Martha said to Oliver.

"You'll be waiting a while," Oliver commented rudely to her. She had been one of the many women that he had slept with in his younger days and she never failed to remind him about their one night together. She was probably already looking for a way to drop it into this conversation.

"Pity, she would make a great new addition," she said. Martha finally seemed to notice Felicity and turned down her nose at her. She shoved her empty glass at her and asked for a refill of champagne.

Poor Felicity was flabbergasted and Oliver looked ready to kill. Laurel had had enough. There was no reason to insult Felicity like that.

"Felicity is Oliver's girlfriend," Laurel blurted out. "We broke up months ago but hadn't announced it publically. So thankfully, I won't ever be joining your club."

There she had said it and she said it to the biggest gossip monger in society. It would be front page news tomorrow. There was no doubt about that but at the moment she only cared about getting outside to the limo and kissing Ted senseless.

With the cat out of the bag, Oliver tugged Felicity closer to himself and confirmed what Laurel had said. Felicity was his. He pushed the empty glass back towards Martha, "You don't ask members of your club to fetch you champagne, I would expect you to extend that courtesy to future members as well."

Martha's jaw hit the floor along with Felicity's but Laurel couldn't help but laugh. She laughed so hard everyone in the room turned to look at her but she didn't care. She felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. Once she had stopped, she stood tall and glared at everyone who was gawking at her. She strode confidently forward and found the limo she was looking for outside. She swung the door open and pulled Ted out. In front of all the paparazzi, she kissed him passionately, the clicking and flashes of the camera not registering at all. To hell with the DA position, Ted was more important, being ADA was enough to make her happy.

Laurel woke up the next morning in the arms of the man that she loved. It was the best feeling in the world. When they both sat down for breakfast and coffee he handed her the paper. Sure enough she was front page news. There was a picture of her and Oliver inside a heart that had been broken in half. She was on one side and Oliver on the other. Outside the heart was a picture of Ted, on her side and a picture of Felicity on the other. There was a full photo spread in the celebrity section of Laurel and Ted together. Laurel stated laughing again and Ted's lips twitched upwards as he watched her.

Three months later, Ted, her family, Oliver and Felicity stood in the audience as she was sworn in as the District Attorney. There really had been no one else suitable for the post and Oliver and Felicity had run a fantastic campaign explaining why Laurel would be the best DA that Starling City had ever seen. Her life may not look perfect now. She didn't have the rich stereotypical husband, she didn't move in the same social circles as before but it felt perfect to her.


End file.
